The Digital Technology Survey at GITEX 2025 and Kyndryl’s latest Readiness Report tell a shared story of a region at a turning point: digital ambition is high and investment is accelerating, but execution, governance and resilience are lagging. As Middle Eastern organisations race to adopt AI, modernise IT and scale innovation, the real differentiator is no longer spend; it’s readiness, trust and the ability to turn intent into durable, secure outcomes. Adib Kilzie, MEA Consult Leader at Kyndryl, explores the findings from the survey and report, discussing key takeaways and lessons learned.
Can you share your key takeaways from the Digital Technology Survey at GITEX 2025 and how this aligns with Kyndryl’s latest Readiness Report?
Both studies point to the same inflection point which is thatthe Middle East has moved from ambition to execution, but readiness is the constraint.
The GITEX survey shows three-in-four organisations are increasing digital investment and prioritising faster time-to-market and AI adoption. The Kyndryl Readiness Report reinforces this, revealing a readiness crossroads: although businesses remain optimistic about their readiness, leaders acknowledge systemic obstacles, with 91% stating they struggle to keep up with the pace of technological advancement and 26% cited complex technology environments as a barrier to scaling investments.
It’s clear from this alignment that spend is accelerating faster than foundations, governance and skills. This gap is precisely where Kyndryl Consult operates – helping clients convert intent into durable outcomes by modernising the core, strengthening governance and sequencing transformation so innovation can scale safely.
The survey notes a paradox: three-in-four organisations increased digital investment, yet a quarter of leaders in the Middle East are unsure of spend. What do you believe are the governance gaps causing this funding uncertainty?
There are two sides to this; raising the budget required and monitoring how it is spent – I believe the paradox is not a budget issue, but a visibility and ownership issue.
According to the GITEX survey, 25% of leaders are unsure whether digital spending has increased, indicating fragmented governance and unclear accountability. The Kyndryl Readiness Report explains that as organisations in the UAE scale digital investments, 27% cite regulatory or compliance requirements as barriers – highlighting the increasing influence of policy frameworks on cloud and data strategies.
Some of the common gaps we see include no single owner across cloud, security, data and AI portfolios (enterprise-level approach); weak FinOps and portfolio discipline across hybrid estates; funding disconnected from measurable business outcomes; and skills gaps and a shared vision that’s aligned to the same enterprise transformation direction.
Kyndryl Consult addresses this by implementing investment guardrails and using a BOTT (Build – Operate – Transfer) approach we build on our customers’ behalf, cooperate and then transfer by developing the capabilities of the organisation and upskilling for future operations. This provides manpower and training/enablement in conjunction with KPI-led roadmaps and outcome-based funding models. Spend becomes intentional, visible and defensible at the board level.
Almost half of organisations in the survey report rising cyberattacks, but only one-in-four leaders is confident in their defences. How does the approach ‘automate for scale, not just efficiency’ address this security confidence gap?
I believe the confidence gap exists as some organisations are still managing cyber-risk as a control problem, when it has become a systems problem.
The GITEX survey shows 43% of organisations experienced an increase in attacks, yet only one-in-four leaders feels very confident in their cyber posture. The Kyndryl Readiness Report deepens this insight with 86% of leaders in the UAE cite experiencing a cyber-related outage this year, many of which were caused by human error, network failures and third-party dependencies – not sophisticated attacks alone.
This tells us security confidence doesn’t fail at the perimeter, it fails in operations. ‘Automate for scale’ is not about efficiency but about absorbing volatility. At scale, automation:
- Converts security from reactive response to predictive resilience
- Reduces human decision latency in high-frequency incidents
- Creates consistency across fragmented hybrid and multi-cloud estates
In other words, confidence improves not because attacks stop, but because impact becomes bounded and recoverable. The strategy shifts from preventing every incident to engineering resilience into the operating model.
Investment in AI/ML is high, however, the report stresses the need to ‘invest with discipline’. How do robust data foundations and integration guardrails ensure investment in AI advances growth and risk reduction collectively?
We see similar results between both reports in terms of the challenges organisations are facing when scaling their AI investments. The GITEX survey shows AI/ML is the top investment priority, but the Kyndryl report explains why outcomes diverge: 70% of UAE organisations report increased pressure to demonstrate ROI on AI investments compared to last year. Yet AI adoption remains largely experimental, with 66% stating their innovation efforts stall after proof-of-concept and 67% citing foundational issues in their technology stack as a major barrier.
Robust data foundations and integration guardrails do three things simultaneously:
- Enable growth by allowing AI to scale beyond pilots into core business processes.
- Reduce risk by enforcing data quality, lineage, security and regulatory control as AI expands.
- Protect ROI by ensuring AI decisions are auditable, repeatable and aligned to business outcomes.
In short, AI growth without strong foundations amplifies risk, while strong foundations allow growth and risk reduction to advance in tandem. That’s the shift leaders must make and where we at Kyndryl Consult create value.
Kyndryl aims to build ‘trust’ into IT environments, making them ‘secure by design, resilient by default’. How does the Kyndryl Bridge platform enable this trust-by-design approach across a complex, multi-cloud environment?
In a multi-cloud world, ‘secure by design’ is a continuous state rather than a design-time decision.
The GITEX survey shows widespread adoption of hybrid and multi-cloud models, while the Readiness Report shows a significant shift in how UAE businesses approach cloud infrastructure with 86% of leaders concerned about geopolitical risks associated with storing data in global cloud environments and 68% have already adjusted strategies, including data repatriation, vendor reassessment and a shift towards private cloud models.
This creates a paradox, with leaders believing they are modernising, yet risk accumulates invisibly across environments they can’t fully see or govern.
Kyndryl Bridge addresses this by shifting the conversation from architecture to operational truth:
- Continuous observability across hybrid and multi-cloud estates with a daily operational view that combines readings from your own environment while receiving push alerts that are curated by the Kyndryl team.
- AI-driven insight into risk, interdependencies – ensuring Business Continuity and resiliency.
- A single, evidence-based control layer to enforce resilience and compliance.
What makes the Bridge so exceptional is that it receives curated AI-driven advice from similar platforms. Within the dashboard, users can observe their own environment but also receive alerts. Those push alerts will prevent issues from occurring.
The strategic value here is that trust becomes measurable. Security and resilience are no longer policy statements but continuously validated outcomes, embedded into day-to-day operations.
That is what allows organisations to innovate with confidence, rather than simply hoping their environment can keep up.
Kyndryl leverages partnerships with hyperscalers and innovators. How does this approach provide the necessary orchestration, insights and skills for Middle East clients to achieve measurable business outcomes?
It’s no secret that the Middle East IT landscape is extremely dynamic and thriving, so much so it’s leapfrogging generations of technology – also visible by the 5 point difference on UAE readiness compared to the global average.
The hyperscaler ecosystem is growing which means there’s an increased number of partnerships between global hyperscalers and players in the region, be it in the private or government sector. This heightened activity is quite dynamic and very advantageous for our clients.
Despite the Middle East being hyperscaler-rich, clients are struggling with integration, skills and a host of other challenges but Kyndryl’s value lies in making ecosystems work collectively.
Through Consult, we architect vendor-agnostic solutions aligned to regulatory and sovereignty needs as well as integrate hyperscaler capabilities into existing estates with minimal business disruption. We also build local skills and operational muscle to sustain outcomes.
That’s how partnerships move from promise to measurable business impact and we’re privileged to have core alliances and certifications within the region.
What are the key differences and similarities between the Middle East and the global digital technology landscape in terms of investment, risk and cyber confidence?
The speed and ambition here is unrivalled compared to other regions I’ve worked in; however, it shares global challenges in terms of readiness.
The differentiator here is urgency. The urgency stands from the nation’s transformative initiatives adopted by the leadership of this region (i.e. ‘We the UAE 2031’ and Saudi Vision 2030). Organisations are moving faster – which makes disciplined execution, strong governance and resilient foundations non-negotiable.
Those who get this right won’t just keep up; they’ll set the pace. The winners in this market won’t be the biggest spenders, but rather those who are most prepared. That’s where Kyndryl Consult creates lasting advantage.
